Obama’s Remarkable Solo

It was a long overdue step. President Obama announced he would shield millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. from deportation. This is the sort of decision that separates weak leaders from strong ones, and it’s more applicable to the United States than it is in other constitutional democracies because the American political system permits the president to rule by executive order if Congress is unable or unwilling to solve problems.

That’s what has happened now. Obama’s solo action isn’t unique; many U.S. presidents have decreed changes to immigration law in the past. But despite that, there is something unique about Obama’s go-it-alone action.

Never before has a president had the courage to help so many people in his country out of the shadows of illegality with one stroke of the pen. Five million out of at least 11 million illegals will benefit from this. Never before has an American president undertaken anything in such a poisoned political atmosphere. Permanent disputes instead of seeking solutions has become business as usual in Washington — and there’s no end in sight. The Republican victories in the last election three weeks ago ensured that the tactics of blockage and inaction will persist for at least another two years.

It’s pointless to complain that Obama was talking differently at the outset of his second term than he had during his first. Back then, he said he wasn’t an American Caesar but president of all Americans, and that he wanted to work with Republicans for the good of the nation. In retrospect, that may have been a sign of naiveté; how does one cooperate with a party that refuses to cooperate? It can’t be done.

Obama possibly underestimated how tenaciously the radical-populist tea partiers who infiltrated the Republican ranks would stick to their obstructionist course. The first black president also overestimated his power to reconcile a divided American society. But that chasm is much too deep.

All of that is now history, and for illegal immigrants it’s good news that this realization has taken root in the White House. It was high time for action. Bravo, Mr. President! For far too long U.S. politics has ignored the fate of undocumented immigrants, many of whom have been in the country for decades. Their children were born in America and are U.S. citizens.

These people would only leave if they were forcibly deported en masse and the government doesn’t intend to resort to that. Many illegals pay taxes and are often the only people willing to accept poorly paid jobs in agriculture or in restaurants. They are needed. Obama was right to note in his television address what his predecessor, George W. Bush, previously said: “The vast majority of illegal immigrants are decent people who work hard, support their families, practice their faith and lead responsible lives. They are a part of American life, but they are beyond the reach and protection of American law.” A country made up of immigrants can’t afford, in the long run, to be divided into two classes.

But now we’re hearing grumbling from the Republican ranks that Obama is too imperial in governing; that he has overstepped the limits of his office and is leading the U.S. into anarchy. They say that Obama is monumentally overstepping the boundaries. That’s how soreheads sound, not politicians who hope to be taken seriously. If Obama’s executive order is illegal, then the suspension of deportations ordered by Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush were illegal as well. Conspicuously, Republicans never raised objections to those: it was O.K. if Republicans did it.

The Republican accusations against Obama are, in reality, attempts to deflect attention from their own failings. Beginning with the coming new year, they will also control the U.S. Senate. That will give them even more freedom to write laws more to their liking. But the chances are they won’t, the reason being that moderate Republicans will be afraid to vote against a new immigration law of which they — at least in principle — approve. That’s the height of irresponsibility.

But moderate Republicans are even more afraid of a rebellion by the radical troublemakers from their tea party wing. Last year they succeeded in driving the nation to the brink of bankruptcy with their obstructionist shenanigans, and now they’re already threatening to block funding needed to run the government again. That would be a pathetically facile response to Obama’s initiative and a clear demonstration of the Republican inability to act responsibly.

But that will ultimately have political consequences for the conservatives themselves. They might be able to crank up the anger of their old, white political base once again but when the next presidential election rolls around they will need Latino support. Whether they will succeed in getting it is extremely doubtful.